Who will be the second black president?

**FILE** Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., right, and Massachusetts Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick smile at each other in this Nov. 3, 2006, file photo during a campaign event in Boston. Gov. Patrick, a one-time Clinton administration aide, has decided to endorse Obama over rival Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic presidential primary campaign, The Associated Press has learned. Patrick planned to make his declaration next week during a rally with the candidate in Massachusetts, according to a top administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity prior to the official announcement. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

Who will be the second black president?

Who might be the next black president? Here are some likely contenders.

President Barack Obama’s path to the White House was seen by many as unlikely. But now that he’s shown the way, some think it may be easier for the country to elect another black candidate. Here are some likely contenders for 2016 or beyond.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick

Despite Gov. Deval Patrick’s claims that he would return to the private sector in 2014 after serving as governor of Massachusetts, his name continues to surface for other political posts. He is rumored to be in the running to replace U.S. Sen. John Kerry or for a position in the Obama administration.

Elected the Bay State’s first black governor in 2006, Patrick served on the heels of Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP nominee for president. He gave an attention-grabbing speech at the 2012 Democratic convention and has been a frequent surrogate for Obama.

On the negative side, after the losses of Romney, Sen. John Kerry and former Gov. Michael Dukakis, neither party may want to run a Massachusetts politician for president any time soon.

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

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Condoleezza Rice speaks on the Stanford University campus in 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

On the negative side, Rice has never run for office, so her day-to-day campaigning skills are largely untested. And she’s pro-choice enough that she probably could not win a Republican presidential primary without a major conversion on the issue.

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott

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Tim Scott smiles at the announcement he will replace Jim DeMint in the U.S. Senate. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt)

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley appointed then-Rep. Tim Scott to fill the Senate seat vacated when Jim DeMint left to become president of the Heritage Foundation.

The appointment made Scott the first black senator from the Republican Party in the South since Reconstruction, as well as the first black Republican senator since Sen. Edward Brooke of Massachusetts lost in 1978.

As a staunch conservative and an evangelical Christian from a Southern state, Scott would be well-positioned in a Republican presidential primary. First, though, he would have to win the 2014 special election to retain his seat and raise his national profile.

His name has come up among the Democratic Party’s future presidential prospects, but first he’ll have to win a statewide office. He’s already made it clear he probably won’t challenge popular Republican Gov. Chris Christie.

That means a run for the Senate in 2014, which presents its own obstacles. It’s not clear that Democratic incumbent Sen. Frank Lautenberg is ready to leave, and Booker may face a primary challenge as well.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed

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Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is photographed in his city hall office in Atlanta in 2010. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Still in his first term as mayor of Atlanta, Kasim Reed, a Democrat, raised his profile as an Obama surrogate. He is favored for re-election as mayor and also is seen as someone who could win higher office in Georgia.

For now, his biggest obstacle is the state’s political climate, but that could change soon. Some experts say the growing Latino vote could make Georgia a swing state sometime in the next decade.

Reed doesn’t look like he’ll be running soon, though. He’s publicly said he believes Hillary Clinton will run in 2016 and that she could win the Peach State as well.